The case for Elon Musk to mix Tesla with SpaceX

Tesla and SpaceX might develop nearer sooner or later and presumably even mix, says one analyst.

Tighter collaboration between Elon Musk‘s two largest firms might assist Tesla fend off competitors and entry capital whereas permitting each firms to share assets and data and collaborate on new companies, stated Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas in a be aware despatched Tuesday.

To make sure, there are not any said plans to merge the 2 firms. However Musk and different Tesla executives have stated SpaceX and Tesla have labored collectively up to now.

However there appears to be no “obvious pure purchaser” for Tesla, Jonas stated. The capital depth of Tesla’s enterprise and different financial and political components, akin to limitations to international possession, go away few doubtless candidates.

However a tighter relationship with SpaceX might permit the businesses to share assets, and maybe provide Tesla entry to capital. SpaceX bought some of SolarCity’s debt earlier than Tesla bought the solar energy firm. SpaceX’s launch enterprise seems to be in a “extremely dominant place,” in keeping with Jonas’ fashions, and the corporate seems well-positioned to enter “extremely worthwhile” markets, akin to proprietary satellite tv for pc broadband.

Musk already divides his time between the 2 firms, and he might additional cut back his time at Tesla to concentrate on SpaceX. This poses a threat for Tesla as many traders contemplate Musk to be important.

“In our view, Tesla’s ‘key man’ threat is increased than another firm we cowl, presumably rivaled solely by Sergio Marchionne at [Fiat Chrysler Automobiles] ,” Jonas stated. “Traders extensively count on Elon Musk to, over time, dedicate growing quantities of his time and skills to SpaceX, elevating the very actual query of who might substitute him at Tesla. A mix of efforts between the 2 companies might handle this vital situation.”

SpaceX and Tesla have additionally collaborated up to now, and there could also be growing levels of technological overlap between the 2 companies, Jonas stated.

For instance, Tesla consulted a SpaceX workforce for assist addressing a service situation that concerned aluminum casting, which SpaceX is aware of quite a bit about from rocket manufacturing. The answer SpaceX got here up with saved Tesla eight hours of labor per automotive, stated Musk on Tesla’s second-quarter earnings name in August.

Area and automatic driving are additionally generally listed as companies the place the more and more vital fields of synthetic intelligence and machine studying can profit and software program growth.

Moreover, SpaceX plans to create its personal satellite tv for pc community — which Tesla might use for transmitting information all through its fleet.

“There’s cross-fertilization of information from the rocket and spacecraft historical past to auto backwards and forwards is — I feel has actually been fairly invaluable,” Musk stated on the second-quarter earnings name, which Jonas cited in his report.